High production electric arc welding often involves a robot for performing a series of repetitive welding operations. Such robot uses electric arc welding wire from a coiled supply, normally provided in cylindrical drums of the type generally shown in Cooper U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,934, incorporated by reference herein. Such drums are used to coil the welding wire as it is drawn so that a large volume of wire is provided from a single cylindrical drum from which it is payed out to the automatic welder operated by the robot. When the coiled wire is coiled in the drum, the drum is closed and transported to the manufacturing facility where the lid is removed and a member referred to as a “hat” is placed over the drum to feed the wire from the drum to the wire feeder of the welding operation. As shown in Cooper U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,934, the drum has a bottom support wall, which is flat. After the drum has been filled, it is transported to the manufacturing facility. To facilitate handling of the drum, the drum is often banded to a pallet used to lift the drum during transportation and manipulation at the manufacturing facility. Then, the banded pallet must be removed before use of the drum for paying out electric welding wire. For economy, several drums, normally four, are placed upon a master pallet which has three downwardly extending ribs, such as 2×4 sections, to create a space under the master pallet for the prongs of a fork lift. Consequently, four drums are placed upon the master pallet and are banded together in a generally square pattern or configuration. The master pallet supporting the four drums is then lifted by a fork lift and moved to the transporting vehicle. Shipping of four drums in a unitized package using a lower master pallet does reduce the cost of transporting and handling. However, disadvantages are experienced. At the facility receiving the unitized package of drums steps must be taken to dispose of the master pallet. The master pallet is sometimes damaged during transport and use. To remove the drums from the master pallet and place them in a standard drum dolly, the drums must be lifted from the top. This is difficult and strains the bottom wall. As one drum is used up, a second drum is removed from the master pallet and conditioned for wire payout by removing the lid and applying the hat. After all four drums of the package are used, the master pallet is discarded. Thus, even though unitized packaging of several wire drums reduced the cost of transportation, there are still substantial difficulties in handling the master pallet and manipulating the various drums at the manufacturing facility.